A Spree Killer, A Drifter, A Lover, Stranger Danger, A Murderous Wife, An Update, and a Cold Case
Panic Queer True Crime
In my ongoing exploration of the history of homophobia in life and the law, I've been researching the trends, and I do mean trends, of attacks fueled by the targeting of mostly gay men. From the late 1950s through the 1970s in the United States, "Rolling a Queer" became such an epidemic that both Democrats and Republicans came together to introduce legislation that would create some minor protections for gays and lesbians. It failed, of course, and the attacks continued at pace. This crime wave helps to explain why the "Homosexual Panic Defense" began to be used in the 1960s in...
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Fires, Sudden Violence, White Supremacies, Murder in a Dog Park, Running Away to Murder
Panic Queer True Crime
In this episode, five cases of homophobic rage, mental illness, alcohol abuse, and murder. Dream City Fire: One of the worst fires in modern London that you've probably never heard of. A combination of alcohol and anger sparked a series of events that ended in the death of 11 men in an unlicensed and uninspected second and third-floor cinema. Ashia Davis: On June 01, 2023, Carlos Scotland and Ashia Davis met at the Woodward Inn in Highland Park, Michigan. By the end of the evening, Ashia Davis would be dead, and the search for her killer would lead to a young killer whose motives remain...
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A Question of Honor?
Panic Queer True Crime
In the television show The Sopranos, the character of "Big P*ssy" was based on a New York or New Jersey mobster targeted because of his sexual antics, but in Italy, there was a similar situation involving a highly respected hitman who stepped out of line by loving and wanting to make a life with the man he loved. Anthony “Bubbles” Torres was a character, a creation. He tended to amuse and sometimes irritate people. On the night he was killed, witnesses saw the beginnings of a confrontation and Torres's murder. Years later, police struggle to solve the case. In my research into...
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"Rolling a Queer" and Other Homophobic Games
Panic Queer True Crime
While researching a story for the next episode I found a 1960 article examinign the growth of homophobic attacks on mostly gey men for financial gain. Rolling a Queer crimes grow to such a degree that lawmakers across the country sought to minimize legal prohibitons agaisnt LGBTQ folks as a partial remedy. Most of these efforts failed contributing to the mid-sixties appearance of homosexual panic as a legal defense. The fisrt two stories in this episode involve murders that resulted from attempts to rob a gay man. Charles James Mourey Chelie Todd Steve Marose story is one...
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Molotov Cocktails of Hate and Murder
Panic Queer True Crime
Molotov Cocktail of Hate Pamela Cobbas, Mercedes Roxana Figueroa, Andrea Amarante, Sofía Castro Riglos Intimate Partner Violence The Murder of Chen Chen Fei The Murder of Quanesha Shantel The Murder of William Nicholas Abraham Disappearance The Murder of Levi Davis? Ex Abercrombie & Fitch CEO Michael Jeffries Charged: Human Trafficking and Assault The Shocking Murder Of Eduardo Xol Ex-Partners, a Mysterious Friend, and Two Bodies Found in Suitcases on Bristol's Clifton Bridge Kasim Omar: Escaped to America Seeking Safety, Only to Face a...
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Newton Arvin: A Sign of the Times
Panic Queer True Crime
In 1960, Smith College's Professor Newton Arvin and two of his colleagues were swept up in a scandal concocted in large part as a way of shaming being queer out of existence. Efforts to control the flow of what is erotica or smut is an ongoing crusade in the United States and in many places in the world. When those crusades are weaponized against targeted groups of people they can be lethal. Some of you listening to this episode might think a professor at a private college is a fairly privileged person, and you're not wrong, but his homosexuality stripped away much of that...
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Jealousy, Hate Crimes, Transgender Murders, and Intimate Partner Violence
Panic Queer True Crime
This collection of cases includes the murder of three trans women of color, the most at-risk group in the LGBTQ+ community. Two cases of intimate partner violence, please see this description for help. The murder of a 19-year-old murder in prison because he was gay and black. A gay man was murdered in his home by a jealous boyfriend and the victim's friend, and two gay men were murdered by a group of friends led by a homophobic leader. Intimate Partner Help: DOMESTIC VIOLENCE INTIMATE PARTNER VIOLENCE National Domestic Violence Hotline 1-800-799-SAFE (7233) Online live chat:...
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Catfished, Missing, and Late Night Attacks
Panic Queer True Crime
Peter Coshan Lisa Stone Curtis Marsh Gaurav Gopalan Matthew Mickens-Murrey Ukea Davis and Stephanie Thomas Vanity Williams Several of the cases in this episode involve unsolved cases. In the next episode, I will delve into the reasons why this might be the case. Two of these cases involve the murder of black trans women, the highest rate of murder in the LGBTQ+ community. The last two cases happened at the same time in the same city To watch any of these stories you can find them on the Queer True Crime YouTube Channel: For Help...
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Intimate Partner Violence, Strangers, Lovers, and a Helping Hand
Panic Queer True Crime
Anna Flores Pauly Likens Alex Rodda Liara Tsai Bruce Becker Curtis Marsh Kevin Clewer Charles Gibson Brad Nelson Winters Here is a collection of murders some of them due to intimate partner violence and some hate crimes. The thing they have in common is the loss and heartache of family and friends. While might surprise some that young men, mostly, still struggling with their sexual identity resort to murder when threatened, ongoing scholarship suggests that the causes might be complicated, a mixture of internalized homophobia and other pathologies that fuel murder. ...
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Mark "Valera" van Krevel: Avenger
Panic Queer True Crime
In 1998, Wollongong, New South Wales, Australia became the location of two of the most violent murders Australia has ever seen. In 1998, Wollongong, New South Wales, Australia became the location of two of the most violent murders Australia has ever seen. 19-year-old, Mark Valera's pent-up rage led him down the path of murder, leaving destruction in his wake and sparking an equal fury that ultimately led to the killing of his own father. The murders committed by Mark "Valera" van Krevel further revealed a disturbing wave of child molestation in New South Wales,...
info_outlineOn September 7, 1982, the Gainesville, Florida Labor Day Weekend was disrupted when University of Florida's Professor Howard Appledorf's neighbors spotted his condo had been broken into.
Inside police found a highly staged scene and the professor asphyxiated on his sofa, as the three young suspects fled they left behind a frenzy of fears about cults and witchcraft.
The tale that would unravel would be far sadder, exposing the life of a victim lived in the closet and three young perpetrators abandoned to the streets where they became both prey and predator.
If you'd like to watch this episode you can find it on the Panic YouTube Channel.